Things My Mother Taught Me
by RosarioN
Summary: Be careful what you wish for
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ok, first things first, this is a little AU plot bunny spin off that has been buzzing round my head for a while. It is set in the Universe I created in 'Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor'. You don't have to have read that to understand this, know simply that Rachel and Shelby did not walk away from each other after Theatricality, but they slowly and simply began getting to know each other and developing a relationship.**

**Second thing, this was supposed to be a one shot, but my fingers ran away with me, so it has been split, between this chapter, which is a kind of introduction, and the next which is the body of the one shot.**

Things My Mother Taught Me

Shelby sat stiring the sugar in to her coffee, wondering how long she would have to wait before she could realistically stand up and take her leave without being considered rude.

Donna and Sandy were her two oldest friends. They had met on the first day of high school, and had largely been inseparable for the next 4 years. After graduation they each went their own way, though they did vaguely keep in touch.

Shelby had gone somewhat AWOL during her New York years, sending Christmas cards, but not much else, but after moving back to Ohio, she had bumped in to Donna in the supermarket one day, who had welcomed her back, and told her about the 'lunch club'. Once every 2 months or so, the 2 of them, now 3 including Shelby, Met up for lunch.

Shelby usually enjoys these lunches, but during the past few months something has changed. Donna, married 6 years ago, and has a 4 year old son. As Shelby and Sandy didn't have children, and out of deference to Shelby's inability to have children, the subject very rarely ventured into the minutiae details of daily life raising a child. Then a couple of months ago, around the same time that Rachel walked back in to Shelby's life, Sandy had a baby.

The tables turned, and now it seemed that every time the 'lunch club' met, the conversation turned to children, and the latest exploits of Donna and Sandy's little darlings, and it was grating on Shelby. Of course having Rachel back in her life helped, but her friends inane chatter, only helped to rub salt in the wound of Shelby missing the first 16 years of her daughters life, and comments such as 'you're lucky you missed all this teething fuss/sleepless nights' instead of sounding caring, become patronising to her ears.

Donna, had launched in to a debate as to whether she should send her son to a chicken pox party, when Shelby finally gave up the ghost.

"guys this has been fun" She said, grateful for the acting classes she took in college, "but I have to go, Rachel is coming over this evening, so I need to get back to Lima."

"Oh sure Hun, we wouldn't want you to be late for Rachel" Sandy said, raising to give Shelby a hug goodbye.

"Be sure to tell her we said hello, and I'll email you about next month ok?" Donna continued.

Donna and Sandy had yet to meet the elusive Rachel. Shelby had been sparing with the details of her daughters conception, simply saying that she had Rachel at 22, and had given her up for adoption. Shelby was pretty sure that Donna and Sandy thought that she had invented Rachel, as a way not to feel left out now that Sandy had a child too. Mainly because Shelby did not spend hours gushing about her daughter, as it really wasn't in her nature to gush. Shelby was also sure that the smile Donna and Sandy were giving her was one of pity, but today, she really didn't care.

The drive back to Lima did nothing to abate Shelby's bad mood, in fact she used the 2 hours in the car to document all the things in Rachel's life she had missed out on, something she very rarely, for the sake of her own sanity, allowed herself to dwell on.

Nearing Lima, she dialled Rachel, offering to pick her up enroute.

"no its fine" Rachel said "I'll drive over when you get back."

"Don't be silly, I have to come via your neighbourhood anyway when I get off the freeway, it'll save you petrol."

"Mom! I'm not baby, I can drive myself, don't worry" Rachel insisted, not realising how much her comment would increase Shelby's already foul mood.

Arriving home, Shelby attempted to snap herself out of it, it wasn't Rachel's fault after all.

Her daughter turned up on the dot of 6 as promised, baring vegan takeout, and a DVD.

They spent a companiable evening, with Shelby's mood lessening as the night wore on.

Rachel stretched and yawned as the closing credits filled the screen. "I think I'll head to bed mom, I'll see you in the morning" she gave her mother a quick hug and kiss and went upstairs to the guest bedroom.

Shelby busied herself by dimming the lights on the ground floor, and collecting the empty plates and cutlery. She moved swiftly about despite the obscurity, manoeuvring her way deftly round the furniture, with only the blinking LED light of the TV telling her it was 1am, to guide her way.

Hearing, or rather feeling, the presence of another person behind her, as she plumped the cushion covers, she smiled and turning she said "Rach, if you want a hot coco then you're out of luck, you drank the last of it the other week". only to discover it wasn't her daughter stood behind her.

The eerie light of the moon falling through the window revealed a person, with their back to Shelby, a man, Shelby guessed by the height and width, dressed entirely in black.

Shelby wanted to scream, shout, run, but felt herself frozen before the figure in front of her, who was turning round slowly to face her. She noted the wooden stick he was holding, the hood of dark material over his head.

She tried forcing her legs to move, but again, she was immobile, frantically scanning the room for something she could grab to defend herself. In doing so, she looked upwards, at the face that could be seen beneath the hood, and screamed.

The face was white, pure white, white as the driven snow, and seemed to float within the darkness of the room and the dark folds of the clothes he wore. Shelby realised that the hood the tormentor wore was not that of a sweatshirt, but one akin to that worn by the Grim Reaper.

The eyes were red, bright red, bloodshot, with swirling read and purple irises, stood out in the gaunt, pale face, larger than human eyes should be.

The air in the room grew cold, as the figure stepped toward her, closer and closer. All Shelby could do was gasp, and stumble backwards, until she hit the wall behind her, and the creature was standing over her, the white face with red eyes moving ever closer, until suddenly, it all went black.

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Comments are all appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews. This is turning out longer than I thought, so instead of being the one-shot I intended, I think it will end as a 3 or 4 parter. There is at least another chapter coming after this one, depends whether I can get everything down in that chapter.**

Chapter 2

Shelby awoke with a start, gripping the duvet cover as if her life depended on it, beads of sweet on her forehead. A feeling of relief washed over her, she recognised she was safe in the surroundings of her bedroom.

As she came further in to consciousness, she became aware of a wailing sound to her left, reaching out blindly, she felt across to the nightstand and attempted to hit the off switch on her alarm clock. However as her hand met bare wood and the wailing continued, Shelby turned her head to look and realised there was no alarm clock. The noise was emitting from a white walky talky device which was propped up against a lamp that Shelby did not recognise, and glancing down at the duvet covering her, she was startled to notice it was green, not cream, as it should have been.

Swinging her feet out of bed, Shelby was becoming increasingly confused, but one thing was certain, that noise had to stop. She took the white plastic console and fiddled with a few buttons until it stopped.

Peace reigned from precisely 5 seconds, before the noise started again, this time it was coming from the distance, not as loud, but still persistent.

Gingerly walking down the landing, Shelby concluded it was coming from the guest bedroom, she halted just outside the door, pushed it open wide enough to see in, and then promptly stopped dead in her tracks.

In place of the double bed, a white wooden crib sat in the middle of the room, a mobile hanging over head. Taking a deep breathe, and creeping forward as if approaching unexploded ordinance, Shelby walked over to the crib and glanced inside. The baby looked up at her, with big brown eyes, pink cheeks made even more flushed by crying, and a tuft of thick dark drown hair. She was beautiful, and given the way she was able to sit up by herself, anywhere between 6 months and a year old Shelby guessed, not really being one who was entirely knowledgeable about babies.

As soon as the baby set eyes on Shelby, she stopped crying, began to gurgle and lifted her little arms indicating she wanted to be taken out of this 4 walled prison right now thank you very much.

Shelby, continued to stare. It had to be Rachel, the eyes, the freckle on her cheek, the fact that this baby just looked liked a larger version of the one she said goodbye to in the hospital all those years ago.

A little frown began to across Baby Rachel's face, she began waving her arms around, 'gah?' she asked her mother crossly, making sounds as if she was gearing herself up to cry again. It was this thought that spurred Shelby in to movement, as she leaned down and picked the baby up.

"mah" Baby Rachel told her, happy to be in her mothers arms, and proceeded to grab a clump of Shelby's hair, in a vice like grip, wrapped it round her wrist, and then settled her head down on her mothers shoulder.

Shelby meanwhile was shocked, confused, happy, and trying not to pass out all that the same time.

The warmth of the small body in her arms was strange, yet comforting. With shaking legs, she decided to make her way down stairs and see if she could discover any more clues as to what on earth was going on.

Her first port of call was the kitchen, which told her everything and nothing. The kitchen looked like it did when Shelby first moved into her house years ago, before she had it refitted and updated in about 2006. The calendar on the wall told her it was September 1995.

Before Shelby had time to process this information, Rachel began squirming in her arms, tugging at the front of Shelby's Pyjama top. "What do you want?" Shelby asked in a gentle tone, even though she knew she would get no answer.

Baby Rachel, shook her head, forehead crinkling in frustration and continued to grab at the front of her top, her little fingers pulling at the buttons. Shelby had seen this action once somewhere before, and suddenly it came to her. Donna had once, when he was very little, brought her son along to one of their lunches. He had started clutching and pulling at donnas blouse, and Shelby remembers being impressed at how her friend had managed to unbutton her blouse, her bra, get her son positioned to feed, all with 1 hand, and not interrupting the flow of conversation.

"Rachie, I think you are going to be disappointed," she told the baby, as she sat down at the kitchen table, " There's nothing there." Thinking, she'd better at least let the baby try and feed, as it might prolong the crying, and if baby Rachel's lungs were as powerful as adult Rachel's Shelby really did not want to hear the sound she could produce.

Sighing, Shelby unbuttoned her pyjama top, manoeuvred Rachel into place, as she had done that one time before at the hospital, and was utterly shocked one she saw a drop of milk appear, just as Rachel's mouth neared her breast. The baby, unaware of the emotions cursing through her mother simply latched on, laid one hand on Shelby's breast and settled in to feed contently.

Shelby sat there for a few minutes, completely thunderstruck. She was startled out of her reverie by the phone ringing. Leaning across, she managed to pick up the phone without disturbing Rachel too much.

"Hello"

"Hey Shelby" Leroy Berry's voice sounded in her ear. "Sorry to phone so early, but I forgot to tell you yesterday, that we tried Rachel on the strained apricot baby food, and she absolutely hated it and cried for about 3 hours, so you might want to avoid giving her the apricot."

" Oh, she's not on breast milk anymore?" Shelby pondered out loud.

"Shelby honey, has she kept you up all night? Don't you remember what we discussed last week? Keep the breast milk for breakfast and last thing at night, give her the solid foods during the day?"

"Oh, yes of course, now I remember" Shelby bluffed. "Ok, well I'll avoid the apricots. Was that everything?"

"Yes, I think so. James will be around at 6 tomorrow to pick her up. Have great weekend."

"Well" Shelby told the baby, " this just gets curiouser and curioser".

After Rachel finished feeding, and was content to sit in her baby bouncer for a bit, Shelby did a bit of digging around the kitchen. She found several jars of baby food, a shopping list, a postcard from her sister on holiday in Hawaii, and a letter from Lima technical college, offering her a place on a teacher training course, to begin in September 1995, and that her placement school would be Carmel High School.

Inspection of the living room found that again, it looked exactly as it would have done, had Shelby been living in this house in 1995, as in it contained the same second hand furniture she hastily bought when she first moved in to the house, in her 'world' in 2002, before she was able to replace it with her first big pay check from Vocal Adrenalines first win.

However, Shelby soon learned that when you have a 9 month old baby in your life, playing detective, or engaging in any activity that is not directly related to the care of said baby, is secondary to anything else.

It took her several hours to get both herself washed and dressed and Rachel changed and dressed. Catching sight of herself in the mirror she discovered that she too was in her 1995 incarnation, complete with perm, and slightly bushier eyebrows.

She also discovered that Rachel's current toy was a baby xylophone that she could spend hours bashing the keys with gusto. Shelby was on the verge of a headache, and contemplating hiding the toy, but every time she went to move it away, the baby's bottom lip would quiver, and she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She also learnt 2 very valuable lessons that was: never take your eyes off the baby, and baby Rachel is as stubborn has adult Rachel.

She had spent 15 minutes trying to get Rachel to eat a tin of cauliflower baby food. Every time the spoon went near her mouth, the baby would clamp her jaw shut and refuse to open it. Shelby had tried cajoling, playing the 'aeroplane game', and was considering prising her mouth open when the door bell rang.

Figuring it was safe to leave the baby as she was safely strapped in to her high chair, Shelby dropped the spoon on to the tray table and went to answer the door. When she returned several minutes later, she found Rachel wearing most of the baby food, the spoon in her hand, and was diligently covering the tray table with the rest of it.

Shelby didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry, but instead hauled the sticky, cauliflower goo covered baby into her arms, and announced "Bath time little miss" and was rewarded by a slobbery sticky kiss.

Within the first 2 minutes of tub time, Shelby herself was drenched from head to foot, and decided to give up her losses and climb in with Rachel. She lay back against with bath, the baby resting against her chest, and decided that paradise on earth was a tub full of hot soapy water and a little tiny hand that softly kept patting her cheeks, and the tiny baby kisses that were peppering her face.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a whir of xylophone playing, bouncing, diaper changing and feeding, with a brief respite as Rachel had an afternoon nap.

By early evening Shelby was exhausted, and had a new found respect for women who did this kind of thing all the time, but was happier than she had been in a long time. Rachel was asleep in her crib, and Shelby, still confused as to how and why things came to be, and what was going on, settled back on the sofa, and decided to close her eyes for 5 minutes, unaware of the figure that lurked once again in the corner of the room

When Shelby be woke, it was morning again and she was once again in her own bedroom. Once again there was a noise in yonder distance, but, it wasn't from the baby monitor, which no longer appeared on the nightstand.

Throwing the covers back, Shelby got up, butterflies in her stomach as she crept out in to the hall to see what awaited her today. It was then she noticed that the noise, wasn't' noise' after all but, bur rather singing.

Automatically heading toward the guest room, Shelby entered to find that the crib had been replaced by a toddler bed, and a certain dark haired 3 year old, was sat in said bed, singing, in tune ( of course) "Tomorrow" from Annie.

She stopped when she saw Shelby. "Mommy!" She said indignantly, "there you are! I was singing for ages."

"I'm sorry sweetie" Shelby said, trying to cover her shock and stay one step ahead of the game.

"I 'm hungry!"

"I know" Shelby parroted, even though she didn't know anything, and was still thoroughly confused.

"Our game. I want breakfast, and I sing, and you come get me, and we eat cheerios"

"Of course" agreed Shelby, taking her hand and helping the sleeping beauty clad toddler out of bed.

In the kitchen, having prepared a bowl of cheerios and cup of juice, Shelby took time to scan the room.

The Calendar read May 1998, and Shelby noted curiously that there were gold stars, speckled across several dates.

The calendar itself was a Carmel High School one. With a sudden panic that perhaps she ought to be at work, Shelby dashed to the living room and switched on the TV to CNN. To her relief she found that today was a Saturday, one of the days that had a gold star by it on the calendar. Shelby really hoped it didn't signify anything too important, and she doubted a 3-year-old could tell her.

On the coffee table she found a copy of the Carmel High Year Book. Curiosity got the better of her, as she flicked carefully through the pages, until she found her entry "Shelby Corcoran, English teacher, and part time assistant to Vocal Adrenaline."

Turning to Vocal Adrenalines pages, she noted the previous coach, from whom Shelby took over, Mr North, stood on onside of the group. Shelby herself, looking barely older than some of the seniors, stood almost shyly on the other side.

Before she could think about if further, a little voice from the kitchen called "Mommy, more juice please." and Shelby was forced to put down the book and return to the kitchen.

Shelby poured a second glass of juice for Rachel and was rewarded with a spontaneous hug.

"What was that for?" she asked, surprised, not really expecting an answer.

"I love you" Rachel said simply, and carried on slurping her drink, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, while her mother fought to keep her emotions under control.

Life with a pre-schooler, as Shelby would soon find, was more mentally exhausting, than physically exhausting. Rachel chatted and sang endlessly. She needed a constant audience for her ramblings, some of which made no sense and some of which did, she followed Shelby round the house wherever she went, which Shelby found endearing, until she realised it also meant she couldn't even go to the bathroom alone.

Rachel was a tiny ball of hyperactivity that needed to be kept entertained with colouring, or playing with dolls. At one stage, desperate for 5 minutes to herself, Shelby parked her in front of a Lion King video, while intending to sit in the kitchen, and a have a peaceful cup of coffee. However, Rachel, decided to sing a long with all the songs, with such clarity and pitch for one so young, that Shelby felt herself being drawn back to the living room just watch her daughter.

By mid-afternoon, and with Rachel raring to go after an afternoon nap, Shelby was exhausted. Shelby decided to take her to the park to burn off some excess energy.

20 minutes later, Shelby plopped Rachel down in the sandbox with a spade and a bucket, and retired to a nearby bench to observe her.

The sun was warm, and Shelby found she was fighting a constant battle to keep her eyes open. She felt a slight creek and a movement as someone else came and sat down next to her.

"It's tiring , isn't it?" came a female voice, and Shelby turned to face her companion.

It was a kindly looking brunette, who looked only slightly older than Shelby, but had the air of someone who had had a much harder time of things in life.

Shelby nodded.

"My Noah is just in to everything at the moment" she gestured to the sand box where a dark haired little boy, around the same age as Rachel was sat beside her, they were building a castle together. "I turn round for 5 minutes and he's gone, up to some kind of mischief."

Shelby smiled. "Rachel talks. A lot. She is going to be a performer when she's older"

"I think Noah is going to be a badass when he's older, unless I can stop him."

The 2 women chatted companionably for a few minutes, Shelby sticking to the few facts that she had gleaned about her life thus far, until the was a scream ( Rachel) and then sounds of crying, ( both) from the sandbox.

The 2 mothers ran over to their children. Rachel had liquid running down her face, Noah was clutching his arm.

"She hit me" he shouted, pointing at Rachel

"He squirted juice at me" Rachel shouted back

"So you hit him with your spade?" Shelby asked, and received a nod in return.

"Noah!" his mother admonished, "you do not go around throwing drinks in little girls faces"

"And Rachel, you do not hit people" Shelby told her daughter.

"I think you should both say you are sorry" Noah's mother continued.

The 2 children glared at each other, before spitting out a contrite, and entirely unfelt, "I'm sorry".

Separating the two, Shelby decided it was time to take Rachel home.

"Rachie," she turned to the still sulking toddler as they walked slowly back to the house. " I hope you remember, that you should never hit one of your friends. If they are mean to you, you should try and talk to them, or tell some else ok? You should never do the same thing back. Do you understand?"

Rachel nodded her head in agreement, but Shelby wasn't entirely convinced.

"Ok. Well lets get you home and cleaned up. Then perhaps we can have ice-cream"

"With chocolate sprinkles?"

"Yes, with chocolate sprinkles."

A bath, ice cream, 30 minutes of the Little Mermaid, and a rendition of Red Riding hood later, and Rachel was on the verge of falling asleep.

"sing to me" she ordered, from her place in the middle of her pillows, surrounded by dolls.

Shelby wiped a lock of dark hair from her daughters forehead and smiled.

"_you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are grey…" _Shelby sang softly, as Rachel's eyes grew heavier, and finally fluttered and fell to sleep.

She leant over and placed a kiss on her forehead, and decided that perhaps it wouldn't harm to stay here for a little while, watching her daughter sleep. She felt tired herself, and it wasn't long before she drifted off, as the red eyes in the white face watched intently through the open door way, hidden from the shadows of the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow, thank you all for the reviews, it has made my week, I don't think I have ever had so many for a single chapter. **

**Ok, this is the penultimate chapter ( so much for it being a one-shot!). All will be explained in part 4. I .hope you like it  
**

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Chapter 3

When Shelby awoke on the third morning, she was no longer surprised to find herself back in her own bed, despite having no recollection of having gone to bed. What surprised her was that she awoke to silence.

Getting up, she considered for a split second whether she was back to normal, but walking past the full length mirror on her wall, she saw that there were deep red highlights in her hair, which, if memory of her past hairstyles served, would put her at around 9 or 10 years ago.

Walking automatically now to the guest bedroom she found that the bed had been slept in, a slew on clothes and toys were over the floor, but the occupier of the room was no where to be seen.

A crashing of pots downstairs, alerted Shelby to the idea that it might be wise to check the kitchen.

As she entered the kitchen, Shelby stopped short. Rachel, stood on a step stool, to reach the kitchen counters, was busy trying to fish the egg shells out of the bowl of egg yolks that she had in front of her. There was a trail of bread crumbs across the counter, leading to 2 uneven pieces of charcoal that were supposed, Shelby guessed, to be toast. A little way further, 2 tumblers had been filled to the brim with orange juice and were now overflowing and standing in their own little puddles of liquid.

"what's all this?" Shelby asked, in a gentle tone.

"I made breakfast" Rachel looked up, obviously proud of herself, hopped off the stool to great her mother.

"So you did" Shelby concluded, looking at the mess.

"and I dressed myself" the 6-year old added, as Shelby took in her appearance, her bunches were lopsided, her skirt on back to front, her knee socks didn't match, and her T-shirt was inside out.

"whats the occasion?" Shelby asked

"Can I live with you?" Rachel said, by way of response, and promptly burst in to tears.

Stunned, Shelby knelt down and took her daughter into her arms, rocking her back and forth, gently rubbing circles on her back. "Hey now, what's all this about?"

She waited until Rachels cries had subdued into nothing more than hiccups, and asked again "Rachie, come on, tell mommy whats wrong, perhaps I can help."

"I was in school and Mrs Zuckerman made us do presentations on our family. I said that I lived with my daddies, but I visited my mommy at the weekends" Rachel pointed to the calender which said September 2001, and Shelby finally understood the significance of the gold stars, dotted on every other weekend, they were the weekends that Rachel came to stay.

"and Quinn Fabray, said, 'did you used to live with your mommy and daddy together?' and I said no, that I had always lived with Daddy and Dad. And then she said that you aren't allowed 2 daddies that live together, She said you are only allowed 2 daddies if one daddy lives with your mommy and the other lives in a different house, and that most people live with their mommies, unless their mommy is dead. Then she called me a big nosed freak, and every body laughed, and Mrs Zuckerman told them not to, but then no one would play with me at recess because Quinn told them all it was a sin to have 2 daddies."

Rachel wiped her nose on her t-shirt before continuing "so I thought if I could dress myself, and make you breakfast, that you would let me live with you."

Shelby was stunned. She grabbed Rachel and pulled her into a hug, while she tried to gather her thoughts. She realised that Rachel must have had to deal with this kind of thing while growing up, but had never really thought to ask her about it.

When she felt Rachel pull away and look at her, Shelby realised Rachel was looking for an answer.

"Rachie" Shelby began, running her hands through Rachels hair, trying to rectify the lopsided bunches,

"When you were born, your daddies and I decided that you would live with them. You are too little to understand now, and you will when you are older. We decided that it would be best for you to live with them, and just visit with me at weekends."

Shelby ad-libbed, as she herself did not understand what the exact arrangement was, but this seemed the most plausible, given the little she had witnessed over the past 3 days.

"There are lots of different families out there, some have a mommy and a daddy, some have just a mommy, some have 2 mommies or 2 daddies. It doesn't matter, what matters is that you feel loved. You know me and your daddies love you right?"

Rachel nodded.

"Good. You are not a freak, and you do not have a big nose, you have a cute nose" Shelby kissed the end of it to make her point. Rachel giggled.

"If any one says anything like that to you again, you tell the teacher, and you tell me and your daddies got it.? "

"Got it."

"right. Why don't you go watch some cartoons, while I fix this mess?"

Rachel didn't need telling twice, and skipped off to the front room, happy to leave the responsibility of breakfast making to her mother.

Shelby only got as far as throwing out the toast and emptying the tumblers of juice, before the phone rang.

"Shelby?" The booming voice of principal O'Hare came down the line. "Are you free to talk?"

"Yes" Shelby replied, intrigued, as to why the principal was calling her at home.

"Good. Look, sorry to be calling you on the weekend, but this is just to remind you that we need your decision by Monday."

"My decision on what?"

"On what?. On whether you want to take on the role of head coach of Vocal Adrenaline, now that Noel North is incapacitated."

""Oh, yes, that, um,…I'll be sure to let you know, but off the record, I will be willing to accept." Shelby figured that in whatever bizarre universe she was in, she would still want the opportunity to coach Vocal Adrenaline.

"Ok. Well I have to admit, I'm not sure whether you are up to it yet, it is the School board that would rather we recruited internally. I hope you prove me wrong."

"Oh I'll prove you wrong, don't you worry about that." Shelby felt reassured that she still hated Principal O'Hare, in every parallel dimension. "I've got to go, you will have my decision in writing on Monday." with that she hung up the receiver with a bang.

Saturday with a six-year old, Shelby discovered, meant participating in dolls tea partys, playing dress up, and not leaving her make-up collection out in the open on the dresser. When she went down stairs to make dinner, she returned to find Rachel had used her red lipstick as blusher, and had painted the rest of her face an array of different colours, the result being a cross between a clown and a drag queen.

When bed time rolled around, Shelby faced a mini-diva tantrum, as Rachel decided she did not under any circumstances want to go to bed. Shelby, never one to give in usually, when confronted with her crying child found herself unable to say no, and as a result, the last thing she remembered of the day, was falling asleep on the sofa, with Rachel, stretched out asleep, with her head on her lap.

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The next day, Shelby did not wake up of her own accord, but rather, was woken out of her slumber, by the bedroom door slamming open and and the head of 9-year old Rachel peering round the gap and announcing in an irritated tone "Mommy we are going to be late for ballet if y_ou do not get up this instant!_"

If Shelby had learnt anything in the past couple of days it was act first, ask questions later. With that in mind she quickly got up, dressed and descended the stairs to find a tutu clad Rachel impatiently tapping her foot waiting by the front door.

As it turns out, Rachel had exams coming up in ballet, tap and modern dance. For Rachel this meant extra classes on a Saturday morning. For Shelby this meant chauffeuring her to the dance studio at 8am, and sitting and watching every class in rapt attention, as Rachel made clear to her when she caught her mother flicking through a magazine while Rachel warmed up. "Mommy, you are supposed to watch me!" she whinned during a brief break in rehearsal.

"But all you were doing were warm-up exercises" Shelby explained, thinking it best not to try and explain how really she was finding it difficult to stay awake having forgone her morning coffee, and was shocked at her own personal revelation that watching your child perform in dance class, was not as wonderfully riveting experience as she had hoped for.

"I don't care" Rachel sulked, but couldn't respond further as the tap teacher called her over.

"Don't worry" one of the other mothers leaned over and whispered in Shelbys ear, " I find it boring too."

The morning seemed to drag for Shelby, but finally the classes ended and she treated Rachel and herself to lunch at the café nearby.

On the drive on the way home, Shelby noticed that Rachel herself was exhausted, and began to question how wise it was for Rachel to be enrolled in so many classes.

"mom?" Rachel asked, when they arrived back and had settled themselves on the sofa. "Do you mind if you don't give me a singing lesson this afternoon.?"

"Of course not" Shelby replied.

"I'm tired, and there isn't any point anyway."

"Not much point? Why?"

Rachel sighed dramatically and waved her arm in the air " Because Mr Collins gave the lead role to Quinn, not me, which, is a terrible mistake."

"What lead role?"

"Mommy I told you! We're doing the Wizard of Oz, and I should, based on talent, be Dorothy, but he gave the part to stupid old Quinn. He gave me the role of the Wicked Witch of the West and third Munchkin on the left."

"Elphaba" Shelby muttered.

"Who?"

"Elphaba. The Wicked Witch of the West is called Elphaba."

"Mommy I don't care. The point is, Quinn can't sing."

Shelby sighed. "Rachie, I hope you didn't say that out loud."

"Well, not with anyone else in the room I didn't." Rachel looked contrite.

"Did you ask Mr Collins why he gave the role to Quinn?"

"He said it was because I had the lead in Annie, and the lead in Peterpan, and all the solos in the Christmas concert, so it was time to let some one else have a turn."

"well that seems fair enough."

"But I'm way better than her, everyone knows it."

"Rachie, I know this will seem hard for you to understand, but sometimes, the best singer or actor doesn't get the part. Some times the director makes a genuine mistake, sometimes the best singer just doesn't look like they want the character they have in mind. Some times you get turned down for one role, because you were destined to play a different part, that you could never have done if you had won the original role.

You should never give up Rachel. Even if you get a small part you still need to play it to the best of your abilities. You have a natural talent and you will shine in whatever part you play, You will be the best third munchkin from the left that there has ever been.

May be you can help Quinn, give her pointers."

"I guess. But she hates me."

"Well she needs to put those differences aside for the good of the show. Remember that too, no one person is bigger than the show."

"Mommy, how do you know all these things?"

"Because I'm a grown up, and I've been around a lot, and one day I will tell you all about it, but until then you have to trust me. Got it?"

"Got it."

"Good." Shelby smiled, wrapped her arms around her daughter and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching the Wizard of Oz, and Annie on DVD.

* * *

It was Shelby's bladder that forced her out of bed on Wednesday morning. She hopped into the ensuite bathroom, noticing the décor had finally turned in to how it was in the present. She had a quick shower and got dressed before deciding to locate Rachel.

The house was silent, and if it had been anyone other than Rachel then Shelby would have wondered if they might still be in bed. "Rachel?" she called tentatively knocking lightly on the closed bedroom door, on the off chance her daughter was still sleeping.

"In here" came a small voice, from the opposite direction.

Shelby turned and walked into the bathroom to find 12-year old Rachel frantically scrubbing at something in the sink.

"Are you ok?" Shelby asked.

"I, um, guess..it's just.." Rachel stuttered.

"Yes?" Shelby probed,

"I think I may have started my period…."

"Oh" Shelby exclaimed, surprised, and not entirely sure what she was supposed to say next. Was there some kind of speech you were supposed to give at this point? She was pretty sure her own mother had given her a seemingly cringe worthy monologue on 'becoming a woman.' Instead she settled for asking "Ok, do you have any…?"

Rachel, cut her off by shaking her head.

"No of course you don't" Shelby continued, to which Rachel's response was to burst into tears."Come on, Rachie, its nothing to cry about" Shelby soothed, "It happens to all of us."

"But my stomach is hurting, and it just won't stop, and I can't get out of my clothes" she gestured to the sodden material in her hand.

"Alright" Shelby wrapped her into a hug, and kissed the top of her daughters head. "No.1 rule you need to learn, hot water sets the stain, whenever you need to get _anything_ out of clothes, you need to soak it in cold water. No 2 hot water also soothes cramps. Why don't I run you a bath, you have a nice long soak, and take 2 paracetemol, and I'll drive to the store and pick up some supplies."

At the last bit, Rachel looked up sharply. "But don't you use them..?"

"No" Shelby said simply. " Remember the surgery I had a few years ago? I don't have periods any more."

"Oh" said Rachel, echoing her mothers own expression of surprise from earlier.

"You never mind that for the moment" Shelby told her, as she put the plug in the bath and turned the taps on at full blast.

A few minutes later Shelby left Rachel busy lounging in a bubble bath, as she made a quick dash to CVS. She returned, left the packages outside the bathroom door, and then went downstairs to prepare some breakfast.

By the time Rachel appeared 20 minutes later, her daughter seemed in a much brighter mood, the painkillers and the bath having worked wonders.

"Feeling better?" Shelby asked as she served up some fruit salad.

"Much" Rachel replied.

"Do you have any questions?"

"No…I'm just glad I was here with you instead of at my dads"

"I think your dads are probably glad you were here with me too" Shelby said, imaging the flap the Fathers' Berry would probably have gotten themselves into. "What do you want to do today?"

"Well, I have that stupid party thing next week that I need to get a dress for" Rachel answered.

"What party?"

"My dance school is holding its end of term party and we all have to go. I don't want to, but Daddy says it will look bad if I don't."

"Well then, it looks like a trip to the Mall is in order" Shelby plastered a fake smile over her face.

A trip to the mall on a Saturday was Shelby's idea of hell. Especially a trip to the Mall with a preteen as opinionated as Rachel. To Shelby's surprise and imminent relief, the selection of a dress that Rachel liked and Shelby deemed appropriate didn't take too long. In fact Shelby surprised herself in how fastidious she was being about propriety of dresses when it came to Rachel, as usually Shelby herself was all about showing a bit of leg and chest if the occasion called for it, yet with Rachel, Shelby would have been happier if Rachel could have gone to the party in a full length cape.

"Are you sure you like it?" Shelby asked Rachel for the third time, as Rachel stood in a plain black party dress that came to the knees, and had a scoop neck, cap sleeves and a red sash round the waist.

"Yes" Rachel replied "Can I get shoes to go with it?"

"What type of shoes?"

"those ones" Rachel pointed to a pair of black shoes with stiletto heals that must have been at least 4 inches.

"Absolutely not" Shelby said. "You will break your neck."

"Daddy and Dad would buy them for me." Rachel wheedled.

Knowing that 16-year old Rachel still wore flat penny loafers and maryjanes, Shelby highly doubted that her fathers would buy the 12 year old version of Rachel items of footware that could also double as lethal weapons.

"No chance." Shelby called her bluff. "How about those" she pointed to some flat black ballet pumps.

"No, mom it's a party" Rachel harrumphed. "What about these?" She picked up a pair with a very low kitten heal.

Shelby inspected the shallow heal and conceded. "Ok, those ones I agree with."

"Good." Rachel told her " those were the ones I wanted in the first place!" she grinned as she pulled the curtain across to get changed.

Was I just played? Shelby asked herself. No, surely not Shelby Corcoran? She replayed the scene in her head and decided yes, the little madam had just got exactly her own way.

That evening, after a pleasent afternoon spent painting each others nails, Shelby made a plan. She decided she was going to stay awake. Every night for the past 4 nights, she had fallen asleep, and then some how ended up bizarrely back in her own bed, in what was seeimgnly the past, but not Shelbys own past. Well not tonight, Shelby thought. As much as she was enjoying the time with Rachel, the whole situation was both confusing and worrying. So tonight she was going to stay awake all night and see what happened, even if she did have to drink her own body weight in caffeine in order to do so.

That night Rachel went up to bed around 10pm. Shelby settled in for a Sex and the City Marathon on HBO, and poured herself another large mug of coffee. It was summer, so it didn't truly get dark outside until about 11pm, with the darkness creeping up slowly, as the night drew in. As such, Shelby hadn't bothered to shut the living room blinds or turn on a lamp, so once again the light of the full moon shone in through the large bay window., the reflection bouncing off the glass coffee table. The room was lit from the glow of the TV screen, and the gentle shimmer of the fairy lights that she had wrapped around the leaves of her favourite potted plant.

As the clock neared midnight, and Shelby was busy chuckling over the latest exploits of Samantha Jones, 2 things happened nearly simultaneously, firstly she was plunged in to sudden and total darkness by both the lights and the TV set going off in an instant, leaving her sat alone in a blacked out room, as even the moon had chosen that exact moment to hide behind a cloud. As her senses processed this information, she suddenly felt the unmistakable force of a hand, large, boney and white, pure, white and cold, appearing out of nowhere and landing on her shoulder, clamping her into place. She turned her head and all she could see were the eyes, the blood red eyes, get closer and closer and closer and closer, until all Shelby could do was let out a blood curdling scream.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you once again for all the reviews. This is the final chapter, hope the explanation isn't too much of a let down! Thank you for reading, and keep your eyes peeled for 'History Repeats Itself' a new actual one-shot, which will be on its way soon. *finishes pimping fics***

Chapter 4

The first thing Shelby became aware of was that she was in bed. It wasn't her own bed, because this bed was hard and narrow, and the blanket was scratching her chin. This was confirmed when she gingerly opened her eye lid and looked at the ceiling. Last time she checked her bedroom did most definitely not have strip lighting and fire retardant panelling on the ceiling. Which could only mean one thing, she was either in a hospital or a lunatic asylum. She sincerely hoped it was the former.

She pried open her other eye and let them get used to the light, before attempting to sit up. That turned out to be the worst idea she'd had in a while, as she had barely lifted her head off the pillow when a bolt of pain shot through her chest and she flopped back down.

"Don't move!" exclaimed a very familiar sounding voice to her left. She turned her head to see her mother sat in the chair beside her bed, a concerned expression her face.

"Mom" Shelby croaked, her voice scratchy in her throat. "where am I? What am I doing here?"

"You're in Akron Central hospital. You've been here since Saturday"

"Akron? Why am I in Akron? And what day is it now?"

"Shelby, calm down" her Elizabeth said, "You are in Akron, because that is where you had your accident. Do you remember? You were having lunch with Donna and Sandy?"

"But that was Saturday? And I left them and drove back to Lima and.."

"No Shelby, you didn't drive back to Lima. You were going to, but you never even made it to your car."

"What happened?"

"I can only go off what Donna and Sandy said, and even that was garbled, so you had best speak to them. But you were hit by a car. It was a hit and run. You broke your ribs, one of which punctured the bottom of your lung, and you shattered the bones in your left leg. You've been in and out of surgery and consciousness for the past 5 days. They've had you on morphine and all kinds of drugs, at one point you were in medically induced coma, just so you would stay still so your ribs could start to fuse back together, and the internal bruising could heal."

"But I…." Shelby faltered, and glanced down, taking in the morphine drip in her left arm, the IV in her right arm, and the traction that her left leg was in.

"Don't worry about it for now. You can speak to the doctor later." Her mum stood and kissed Shelby on the forehead, and patted her good leg. "I'd better phone Rachel. She has been frantic."

Elizabeth grabbed the phone that was on the bedside table near Shelby.

Shelby could hear the dial tone, and noted absent mindedly that it was answered on the first ring. "Rachel, it's Grandma…yes I know…no…yes…Rachel! Let me speak…she's awake…..yes…she…well…just now….yes…Rachel…no…I….just drive carefully then!"

Elizabeth replaced the receiver. "Rachel is on her way over."

"What time is it?" Shelby asked

"About 6.45pm"

"Mom! You can't let her drive all the way over here at this time of night. She has school tomorrow…and.."

"Shelby!" her mother interrupted. "Rachel is not in Lima. She's in Akron, in my house to be exact."

Shelby listened as her mother explained how Rachel, upon hearing about Shelby, had driven over to Akron, her fathers in hot pursuit. She had refused to leave, throwing the biggest Diva tantrum that her grandmother had ever witnessed. The upshot of which was Elizabeth suggesting that Rachel stay with her for a few days, on the condition that she got her school worked emailed to her, and that she spent an allotted amount of time per day studying and completing her assignments. Elizabeth would visit Shelby and promised that she would phone Rachel the second Shelby was awake. Rachel's fathers, willing to give their little girl whatever she wanted, and not standing to see her so upset, had agreed, and driven back to Lima.

By the end of the explanation, Shelby could feel her eyes closing again, and she slowly drifted off to sleep, only to be woken up by the sound of the door opening and Rachel running in.

"Mom!" she exclaimed, rushing over, and attempting to hug Shelby around the drip and the various wires and implements. "You're alive!"

"Rachel, she was never dead" Elizabeth scolded

"I think the phrase you are looking for is, you're awake" Shelby muttered.

"Mom, it was awful, you were just lying there, and every now and then you'd babble something, and we thought you were waking up and then you weren't."

"Rachel, do you remember that conversation we had about not overwhelming or scaring your mother will overly dramatic renactments about her being unconscious?"

"Grandma if I was being dramatic I would have likened it to the lying in state of Eva Peron at the end of Evita."

"Rachel, I"

*_Ahem_* Shelby coughed to get their attention, and was rewarded by another jolt of pain.

"I'm awake, can we leave it at that for minute?" she muttered.

"of course…" Elizabeth and Rachel looked guilty.

Before either of them could say anything, Dr Jones appeared, "Ms Corcoran, I see you've rejoined the land of the living!" he beamed, before launching in to a technical explanation of Shelby's various maladies and the treatment she had been given. The conclusion to which was that Shelby was looking at another 2 weeks in hospital, and at least another 6 of bed rest after that.

"We'll also start to wean you off some of the higher strength painkillers, " he explained "we don't like to keep patients on them for too long, as they can cause delusions and hallucinations"

"hallucinations?" Shelby repeated, well that was one way of explaining it, apart from the fact it felt so real…

Afterwards, her mother and Rachel left, and Shelby fell asleep properly, and had her first dreamless sleep in over a week. The following morning, the doctors did their rounds again. After they had finished, visiting hours began and Shelby was unsurprised to find Donna and Sandy enter her room not long after.

"Shelby" Sandy exclaimed "Oh my god, it is so good to see you. You gave us such a scare"

Shelby smiled weakly. "I wish I could remember what happened."

"Well" Donna began " You left the restaurant, remember we had a table in the window? We watched you walk across the parking lot, because you had parked out on the street, your head was down, you seemed as if you were in a bad mood toward the end of the meal. You were stood at the crossing , and next thing we saw was you fly up in the air, bouncing from the hood of a red SUV, which had sped off by the time we reached you."

Shelby wracked her brains trying to remember. She quite clearly remembered leaving the restaurant, and walking across the parking lot as Donna had said, but then it was blank.

"We ran out of the restaurant," Sandy continued "and over to where we saw you land. You were in the road, and a man, well, no more than a boy, really, was crouched over you. He'd taken off his jacket and placed it under your head, he was calling an ambulance, he'd been walking along the sidewalk, and saw the whole thing. You were still conscious when he got to you, and you were trying to talk.."

"A boy?" Shelby asked, again, trying to picture what he looked like.

"A teen really." Donna said "He couldn't have looked less like a Knight in shining armour, poor thing, in fact on appearances alone he looked more like someone who would be menacing and cause you harm. Very tall, pale pale skin. He was on his way to a Slipknot concert. He was dressed all in black, with one of those huge hooded sweatshirts, and his eyes, he had these crazy contact lenses in, they made his eyes bright red, they stood out in his face. He was a sweet boy, only 18, called Ben. He held your hand and was speaking to you until the ambulance came, which was around the time you lost consciousness. He called me a few days ago to see how you were."

"Red eyes…" Shelby trailed off, as the mysterious hooded creature of her dreams suddenly began to make sense.

Donna and Sandy gave her a curious look, but Shelby was saved the trouble of answering by Rachel breezing in.

"Morning mom, guess what, I.." Rachel stopped when she realised that her mother had company. "Hello" she said, nodding to the 2 women who were staring at her in amazement.

"Rach, these are my friends Donna and Sandy" Shelby made the introductions. "Donna, Sandy, my daughter Rachel."

"Hi" Sandy said, while Donna continued to stare, proving Shelby's theory that they hadn't entirely believed that Rachel existed.

"my god Shelby, she looks just like you would have in high school if hair straightners had been in existence back then." Donna said.

Shelby nodded, a smile on her face, she was starting to feel tired again. Rachel meanwhile simply smiled, and pulled up a chair, used to people comparing her physical likeness to her mother.

The group chatted amicably for a while, before Donna and Sandy, aware of Shelby's increasing drowsiness, decided to leave, promising to visit again before Shelby left hospital.

Rachel was settling herself into the armchair, preparing to read one of her English literature books while Shelby napped.

"Rach?" Shelby asked, her eyes already starting to droop, but curiosity getting the better of her. "Did you by any chance have an Elementary school teacher called Mrs Zuckerman?".

"That old bat? Yes. She was responsible for me being asked to leave the Brownies."

"huh?"

Rachel sighed. " I had to do a speech about my family. Which was the time that everyone learnt that I had 2 dads. Quinn told her mother, who in turn told the Brownie pack leader, who asked my dads to remove me. It was the first time I ever wished I had a mom. It turned out ok in the end though, it freed up some time to take up a modern dance class. Why do you ask?"

"No matter" Shelby said "And…did you ever put on a production of the Wizard of Oz?"

"Yes. 5th grade. I was Dorothy, the principal said it was the best rendition of Over the Rainbow he had ever heard." Rachel beamed at the memory.

"Oh….you weren't say, the Wicked Witch of the West?"

"Have you been talking to my dads?" Rachel asked, before tossing her hair and continuing "Well, in a travesty of International proportions, and the biggest case of miscasting in the history of Ohio amateur theatre productions, Quinn, was cast as Dorothy. However as predicted, her paper thin voice could not cope with the demands of the part. She came down with laryngitis 2 weeks before the show, and I was asked if I could possibly perform in her place. Which I did, bringing down the house every night. Seriously, mom, where has all this come from?"

"Just curious that's all" Shelby replied, as she drifted off to sleep with a huge smile on her face, much to the confusion of Rachel. Perhaps she really did get to experience a small slice of Rachel's childhood after all...

THE END


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